John Oliver Shuts Down the Worst Misconceptions About Trans People

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The United States reached a milestone on Friday in terms of LGBT rights and marriage equality. However on Sunday, John Oliver reminded us we have much more work ahead of us in terms of transgender rights. There are an estimated 700,000 transgender adults in the United States -- about the size of Boston, Oliver points out -- and on HBO's "Last Week Tonight," Oliver looked into several issues facing the transgender community, including but not limited to invasive questions from the media about genitalia to lower average income to high rates of suicide and sexual violence, discharge from the military, and the discrimination they face over something as simple as bathroom selection.

"Transgender people have a gender identity that differs from the one they were assigned at birth, and that gender identity is not the same as sexual orientation. Gender identity is who you are, sexual orientation is who you love. Some transgender people do undergo hormone therapy or sexual reassignment surgery as part of their transition; some do not. And interestingly, their decision on this matter is, medically speaking, none of your fucking business. If you’re still wondering, ‘What do I call a transgender person, it’s so confusing,’ actually it’s pretty simple: call them whatever they want to be called."